1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inkjet recording device provided with a recording head that is mounted on the carriage and discharges ink based on the printing data; specifically, it relates to an inkjet recording device that allows margin-free printing with no margin on the left and right edges of the recording medium, or full-page margin-free printing with no margin on the top, bottom, left, and right edges of the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inkjet recording device that can print with the margins set to zero on both the left and right edges of a recording medium is disclosed in Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-169155. According to the recording device disclosed in this application, the device is constructed to execute the printing movement by setting the scanning scope of the recording head mounted on the carriage so that the head moves to areas beyond both the left and right edges of the recording medium.
In order to prevent the recording medium guide member from being contaminated by ink discharged beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium, a mesh screen is provided on the surface thereof to pass through ink drops discharged beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium.
Further, an ink recovery means whose movement is interlocked with the carriage movement is provided under the mesh screen to catch ink drops discharged beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium.
According to the above construction, ink that is discharged by the recording head beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium pass through the above mesh screen and is captured by the ink recovery means provided under said screen. This prevents ink drops from reaching the guide member and contaminating it directly, and avoids secondary contamination of the recording medium.
In such a recording device in the prior art as described above, although ink that is discharged from the recording head beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium is passed through the mesh screen and captured, there is a problem in that, when passing through the above mesh screen, some of the ink collides with the framework constituting the mesh screen, thereby splitting into mist and floating as ink mist.
When such ink mist is generated, a problem occurs in that some of this ink mist adheres to the recording medium to directly contaminate the recording medium. Another problem is that other parts of the ink mist would contaminate the drive mechanism of the recording device and cause disorders in the drive action.
In order to eliminate factors for ink mist generation as described above, a construction for a recording device has been proposed by the applicant of this patent application wherein ink-receiver holes for catching ink discharged by the abovementioned recording head are formed on positions on the guide member protruding beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium while at the same time ink absorbing materials are provided in said ink-receiver holes.
According to the above construction, ink drops discharged in areas beyond the left and right edges of the recording medium strike the porous ink absorbing material provided in the ink-receiver holes and are captured and absorbed by said absorbing material without generating ink mist.
If the abovementioned left and right margin-free printing is used frequently, a large amount of ink accumulates in the porous ink absorbing materials placed inside the ink-receiver holes so that a limit to the ink absorbing capability of the ink absorbing material is reached. When such a limit to the ink absorbing capability occurs, ink collects on top of the ink absorbing material, causing the left and right edges of the recording medium to be contaminated.
In the meantime, an inkjet recording device that can not only eliminate margins on the left and right edges as described above but also execute full-page margin-free printing with no margin on the top, bottom, left, and right edges has been proposed by the applicant of this application.
When performing margin-free printing also on the top and bottom of the paper, ink-receiver holes for ink discharged from the abovementioned recording head need to be formed in the longitudinal direction of the guide member, in other words continuously in the main scanning direction of the recording head, in positions of the recording medium guide member where the top and bottom edges of the conveyed recording medium pass.
In this case, if margin-free printing on the top and bottom as well as left and right if used frequently, a large amount of ink similarly accumulates in the porous ink absorbing materials placed inside the ink-receiver holes so that a limit to the ink absorbing capability of the ink absorbing material is reached. When such a limit to the ink absorbing capability occurs, ink collects on top of the ink absorbing material, causing not only the top and bottom as well as the left and right edges of the recording medium to be contaminated, but also the entire reverse side of the recording medium.